Month: September 2022

Queen Elizabeth II

In today’s Journal Queen Elizabeth II — a minor homage My heartfelt condolences to everyone who loved and held in high esteem Queen Elizabeth II, the gracious mother and grandmother to the world. The queen died yesterday at Balmoral in Scotland. This special edition of the Journal is dedicated to her memory. This morning at 4 a.m. was my first time back in my writing office (the Hovel) since my wife called from the house yesterday to tell me the queen had died. Suddenly, writing seem an unimportant, trivial matter, especially while the rest of the world is taking a … Read more

Working with Serious Writers

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Working with Serious Writers * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.” Stephen King “You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” Stephen King “You go to work. You don’t wait for inspiration to strike. You sit down and write. If you don’t feel like writing, you write anyway. Writers’ block is an affectation.” Elaine Viets on writing fiction Topic: Working with Serious Writers A mentorship slot just came open. … Read more

A Look at Inara

In today’s Journal * Welcome * A Look at Inara * Of Interest Welcome to Lisa B and any other new subscribers we’ve picked up recently. I hope you find some helpful things in the Journal. A Look at Inara On yesterday’s post, Journal reader Lakshmi commented “I’d love to hear your take on https://inara.world/.” Okay, first and foremost, don’t depend on me. Always read the privacy notice and any terms and conditions before directly engaging with any new online endeavor. And don’t judge them based on what you think they must mean by the words they put on the … Read more

Inside No. 9 and AI Writing

In today’s Journal * Inside No. 9 * AI Writing * Seriously, What Gives? * Of Interest Inside No. 9 I keep forgetting to mention, if you want to see some really great short stories in film, take a look at Inside No. 9, a British black-comedy anthology. According to the internet, the anthology is “available on NOW TV, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Netflix, iTunes and YouTube.” I get it through my BritBox subscription. So what does this have to do with writing? Well, the writing (storytelling) for Inside No. 9 is excellent. And the scripts are available to purchase … Read more

One Alternative to TinyLetter

In today’s Journal * Topic: One Alternative to TinyLetter * Mentorships and More * Of Interest Topic: One Alternative to TinyLetter I’ve been looking around at other newsletter services. I’ve found several “up there” with MailChimp with all the marketing and email-collection tools, etc. But I haven’t found even one that compares directly with the no-BS, no-frills TinyLetter. Then a thought occurred: Most email programs enable you to create “groups” (or whatever name your email program calls them). The idea is, you can gather contacts that are interested in a particular topic into one group. For example, you might have … Read more

Dare to Be Bad

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Dare to Be Bad * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration. The rest of us just get up and go to work.” Stephen King (Amen. Preach it, brother.) “Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Topic: Dare to Be Bad Anyone who’s followed Dean Wesley Smith very long has heard him use this admonition in his blog. According to Dean, it’s something he and Nina … Read more

A Note on Traditional Publishing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Note on Traditional Publishing * I’ve Been Fretting * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[O]f the 58,000 trade titles published per year, fully half of those titles ‘sell fewer than one dozen books.‘ (Not a typo, that’s one dozen.) More broadly, 90 percent of titles sell fewer than 2,000 units. Even a small advance of a few thousand dollars would not earn out at standard royalty rates.” Dean Wesley Smith, quoting directly from the Hot Sheet (emphasis added). “The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. … Read more

The Secret to Being Prolfic

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: The Secret to Being Prolfic * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “If you wish to advance into the infinite, explore the finite in all directions.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Sure you can, Harvey. ‘Can’t’ never did anything.” My stepmom, about 65 years ago when I complained that I couldn’t do something. I owe her my Marine Corps career, and I owe her my writing career. “May your future be limited only by your dreams.” Christa McAuliffe Topic: The Secret to Being Prolfic First, the secret to being a prolific … Read more

The Value of Having a Place to Report

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Value of Having a Place to Report * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh.” Lord Chesterfield “You know how I mentioned before that I had written this entire novel without stopping and that I was currently cycling back on the entire book? … As I returned to each chapter and cycled back on it, there was extremely minimal work for me to do. My creative voice had gotten it right from the onset.” Monica Arac … Read more